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10 Books That Should Be Challenged Instead of ’50 Shades of Grey’

By Tom Hawking on
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State of Fear by Michael Crichton

The charges: tinfoil hattery, dubious science

As far as learning about the issues surrounding climate change goes, we suggest that a novel whose underlying premise can be summarized as “LA LA LA IGNORE IT AND IT’LL ALL GO AWAY” is perhaps not the best place to start.

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Ayn RandDan BrownEat Pray LoveGossip GirlKardashiansL. Ron HubbardMichael CrichtonPiers AnthonySteve JobsThe Secret
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50 Shades of Grey should be banned simply because it is the biggest, steamiest, messiest pile of shit that's ever been dropped on the earth. No, forget banning it. Burn the damned thing. I don't believe in book-burning, but for the love of the flying spaghetti monster, 50 Shades of Grey isn't a book! Calling it a book would be insulting to great literature like Pride and Prejudice or Jane Eyre or The Count of Monte Cristo. Hell, even Twilight doesn't deserved to be mentioned in the same sentence as that godawful fap-fest.

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The one thing that makes The Davinci Code worth reading is that it pisses of the Christian fundamentalists...and I am a Christian, just not one of the obnoxious, in- your-face ones...lol

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OK people need to lighten up. I actually read Atlas Shrugged and it could have benefited from some editing ( most1000+ page books can be edited down to around 500). Humans aren't built to be completely selfish beings who look out for ONLY themselves, we are empathetic and compassionate by nature. I also don't see why we should put the individual over society or vice versa, I mean can't there be some sort of balance? not intending to read 50 Shades of Grey I despise Twilight and apparently it was a fan fic, no thanks. Dan Brown wasn't horrible but it wasn't all that great for me either. These books shouldn't be banned so much as looked at a little more critically before being massed produced

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I read it, I thought it was just awful, and that was just the girlish tone of it lusting after the virile hero and worshipping his every thought and action. The politics was just so one sided for unregulated corporatism with no thought to any of its downfalls. I think Enron, Merrill-Lynch and all the rest of the corporations gone wild in recent history tells another story.

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I feel most of you are not getting it. This is satirical commentary on the prudish mentality of some people in this country. One of the great things about our country is that no one is forcing anyone to read 50 Shades..., but don't take away others freedom to do so. Lighten up people.

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Books should never be banned. Period. I think Dan Brown is a terrible writer, but I believe that people should be able to read him freely if they want. The same goes for Rand's "Atlas Shrugged," whose philosophy is definitely not for me. But banning her works from public libraries because you disagree with what she was saying goes against everything literary-minded, educated people stand for. There were, and are, people who try to ban Vonnegut. They believe in their hearts that he was decadent and depraved, that his ideas were dangerous, and that his language was course and vulgar. So they banned "Slaughterhouse Five." How is that any different? I have my preferences too, but this was an incredibly snobbish article.

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How about a better list? This goes on my Top 10 of useless, boring, and ill-informed ones. James' hyped-up bit of unfortunate fanfic could potentially engender a much more worthwhile conversation about what defines erotica, regardless of literary quality, and under what circumstances it should be freely accessible in libraries. Or how sad her juvenile presentation of sex is and its pathetic retread of misogyny disguised as romantic fulfillment. Or even how incredibly, grossly bad her misunderstanding and portrayal of BDSM is and the offensive dispersal of critique against it in the guise of being for it, topped off with the message that the tyranny of the weak is perfectly fine and even laudable, with happy endings and multiple orgasms. This list is a very half-hearted message of support for a vile bit of badly written fluff. Or maybe just an excuse to randomly rail against books the list's author is plagued by, hoping to get hits by including a "hot topic" in the title. How trite. For those interested, a very interesting review of 50 Shades is here: http://www.bondassage.com/blog/239-the-troubling-message-in-fifty-shades-of-grey. A generally sex-positive, kink-friendly site that cuts to the real issues with the book, aside from the cringe-worthy quality of the writing itself.

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Only those who don't understand Atlas Shrugged are those who will bash it. Rand was a thinker who supported thinking for your darn self and not relying on people to carry you (i.e public assistance, religion) basically YOU should be the only vessel for achievement and screw the leeches, the stragglers, the rule-makers. It was a book upholding capitalism and saying eff you to the government with their taxes and sanctions and making money by NOT actually doing anything. If that's too hard for you to comprehend, watch the 90 minute movie. I'm sure your attention span could handle it. You twits.

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Dear Otis, Rand was a bitch, who was a hypocrite, and her followers are generally myopic entitled dolts who don't actually know what they are saying or following, just that they want their wishes met at the cost of others; which is exactly the opposite of her philosophy. There is nothing wrong with putting your needs first, so long as they do not come at the expense of others. Other people's needs do no precede my own unless I say so, and deem that is what is in my best interest at the time. I do not see how that can be considered lunacy.

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How did "A Shore Thing" by Snooki not make this list?!?!!??!?! OR TWILIGHT?!?!

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Why has the Bible not been included in this list? And every other religious manifesto, for that matter. Talk about long-wided sexism and crap philosophy that a 3-year old could poke holes at...

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I was with you except for Eat, Pray, Love. Gilbert is lovely, well-organized, authentic and amusing - echelons above most memoir. Perhaps the hype caused a backlash. My personal removal list? The trite and poorly written KiteRunner.

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John - hey, you're just like me! Except for the Randian lunacy bit, that is

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Why aren't the scientologists all up in arms?

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i haven't read most of those so i can't really comment but i have read plenty of ayn rand. and really? you think that we should allow children to read a poorly written book whose premise is nothing more than weather or not two people will enter into a relationship of sexual subjugation instead of a challenging commentary on society and government? REALLY? i mean, if you're going to suggest books based on verbosity at least go with dickens. a tale of two cities was the most painful thing i've ever read......next to 50 shades of grey which, despite my friends' insistence that the sex scenes are unparalleled, completely fails to capture my attention. i have suggested them that if they want detailed lurid reading they should try kresley cole's immortals after dark series. which has a story line to go with the sex and a collection of well rounded characters. but the whole thing is silly anyway. if you don't want to read it, don't. and like anything else with your kids, if you don't want them to read it, pay attention and make sure they don't. they'll try to sneak around you just like everything else but that's just what kids do. i wish people would fight this hard to ban hamburgers, french fries, and pizza from their children's cafeteria.

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"Says the guy who’s on the Flavorwire comments section halfway through a working day…" Yes Otis, that's because I'm a freelancer and I work my own hours. I don't do 9-5, in fact I just woke up from a great nap. I live off what I can produce and my own ideas.

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@Pants McGee, I agree! This list was hilarious, I thoroughly enjoyed it (particularly your comment on 'The Secret) I think people need to chill out a little.

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These lists, when taken with a grain of salt, are just that. I read lots of literature, all of which have noticeable flaws and merits, and limitations that have to do with the culture of the times and the prevailing attitudes and sensibilities of those times--including the fashions and fads of present day. I enjoy reading with this in mind--taking all literature with that afore-mentioned grain of salt! lol

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This was hilarious - both article and the comments section. Why so serious?

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I definitely don't believe in banning literature. However, isn't 50 Shades basically about a man taking advantage of a much younger woman, disguised by a "love story" and S&M-based sexual encounters said to display "female empowerment?" Call me a super-feminist, but I fear for our daughters. (I'm not saying Gossip Girl is any better.)

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Love these lists, if only for the overreactions they provoke in humorless "I'm-better-than-you's" keep at it, FP - seeing the Rand cultists flap their wings and lose feathers over this was was totally worth it ...

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I'm not anti-erotica, but 50 Shades is crap.

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Wow - what a monumental waste of time. You guys are getting really desperate for lists. Take a break (like a year) and come back with some decent ideas.

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What confuses me is, as I remember it, Atlas Shrugged is about the individual diving into and excelling at that which he does and loves best. There is no difference in respect for the train switcher or the President of the company. But, everyone must give his best to it, and in so doing all of society is enriched. The inclusion of this book on this list is puzzling indeed as it is these very conversations that need to be held. The only way our country will succeed is if we can all civilly discuss these sorts of ideas. And one cannot discuss them if one has not been exposed to them. I will say, I've met very few Rand supporters who have not read her work, and very many Rand detractors who have not.

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Coupla things: --50 Shades of Gray: There is MUCH better erotica/sexual reading written by and for women. The whole pretext--woo woo girl becomes rich handsome guy's bottom, guy falls in love, happy ever after--is just barfsome. It's like "Twilight" with f**king. --Ayn Rand: Giant YES to whomever said that she can be summed up in a 5-minute sketch in The Simpsons. Every Randian I ever met was under 50, had lots of money in the bank, and never suffered a serious illness or other debilitation. In addition, I never met a Randian who was, in fact, actually able to "live off the grid" and/or take themselves out of the system that they claim to loathe (but they were all really good at blaming other people for keeping them down).

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Apparently, you at Flavorpill haven't actually read Fifty Shades of Grey. Forget about the sex (which is laughably bad anyway); it is HORRIBLY written. I'm certainly not in favor of banning books, but if I was, I'd ban this piece of crap because it is representative of every example of bad writing that you listed for all the other books. And now we get to look forward to the movie, not to mention all the knock-offs that must be coming...

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If you hadn't started with the premise that 50 Shades of Grey was banned for sex, I'm sure it would have made the list for its other "qualities."

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I remember reading Atlas Shrugged in college and thinking that it's the best book I've ever read. A few months later I took a philosophy class called Critical Thinking, followed by courses on Nietzsche and Kierkegaard, and realized how simplistic, unrealistic, and impractical Rand's philosophy is. I known a ton of people who felt the same way...initially moved by Rand, but then grow up and realize how much success in life involves collaboration and empathy. I see that some people never grow up.

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Is this seriously a list? Your cultural elitism is, frankly, undeserved when the highlights of flavorpill are just arbitrarily and poorly curated lists. #unsubscribe

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Thou dare critique The One True Rand? BLASPHEMY! I swear there was some secret English course only available to engineering majors and the campus Ron Paul for President members where the only things you read were Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. I thought both were awful, elitist drivel packaged in overwhelming tedium. But, hey...to each their own. If that kind of thing floats your boat, knock yourself out. I won't try to convince you about why it's awful and, in return, I'll tune you out when you try to sell me on it's immortality.

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Rand did tell her story in a few pages....in Anthem, no need to read the others. They are popular only because of the historical period in which they written. That being said, there are thousands of books worse than those nominated for pulling off shelves. Being snobbish does not a critic make.....

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Too funny. "there is no fucking secret" !! just a whole world of people who prefer to avoid the simple truths. ;-)

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"Atlas Shrugged may be long-winded, but it is undoubtedly Rand’s idea of putting the individual before the collective that you despise." as if that's some kind of dramatic reveal, rather than just a sensible response to considering selfishness a virtue. ha ha

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my bad, heart failure exacerbated by treatment for her lung cancer. rest still true

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Atlas Shrugged is a piece of shit and so is Ayn Rand. the fact that she died of cancer after claiming a lifetime of smoking was proof of man's mastery over fire should tell you much about the soundness of her ideas. well, bye

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Definitely think James Joyce's Ulysses should be up there ... most unnecessary book ever

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Amazing how so few literate and presumably reasonably intelligent folks have no sense of humor.

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Never realized what a bunch of elitist snobs you folks at flavorwire are...until now. Atlas Shrugged may be long-winded, but it is undoubtedly Rand's idea of putting the individual before the collective that you despise. And Brown's "The da Vinci Code" may not be War and Peace, but it is immensely entertaining to anyone other than frustrated literature majors, trying like hell to get some publisher...any publisher...interested in their witty, post modernistic ramblings.

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"The fact that you put it on here just shows, you have no idea what it’s about, and that you have absolutely no taste, and that you may in fact be one of the sycophantic bloodsuckers living off other people’s ideas and brain power." Says the guy who's on the Flavorwire comments section halfway through a working day...

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Also the Jobs Biography is a great book depicting the true face of what everyone agrees was a genius of a man. He's brood(ish), he's a prick, he has a knack for understanding what simple is and what consumers really want. The fact that you chose this book based on the who reads it and the uncomfortable feelings it stirs up in you because you live trite and erudite lives that only fill you with bitterness over the broken promises and short comings of your parents, both financially and philosophically, is quite childish and vacuous.

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I'd just like to add that the fact that many of Rand's ideas appeal to me is a scary fact, simply because nearly everyone else that seems to like her ideas is obviously completely crazy, and often belligerent. Makes me worry about myself.

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this was also an awesome smackdown of brown's novel, also bored from sentence one. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/05/29/060529crci_cinema

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What most can't bear about Rand is that she is right and always will be. The poor were born in filth and muck and you can see the stains of this in their faces, they are forever of the mud pits.

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You're kidding about Atlas Shrugged right? It has nothing to do with blaming poor people, it has to do with blaming coat tail riders that live sycophantic lives off those that use their brains. It's a book everyone should be forced to read, it depicts every deplorable kind of blood sucker humanity has to offer in this day and age. The fact that you put it on here just shows, you have no idea what it's about, and that you have absolutely no taste, and that you may in fact be one of the sycophantic bloodsuckers living off other people's ideas and brain power.

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Atlas Shrugged is a piece of shit that only appeals to ignorant and simple minded. In terms of 50 Shades? DO NOT GIVE INTO THE HYPE people. Its pure garbage.

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Atlas Shrugged does not belong on this list, if only for the fact that it launches arguments on its merits/lack thereof, as exhibited here. Of course, logical discussion is preferable to opinion slinging, but we are in an opinion-based forum.

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I actually kind of agree to a point with a many of Ayn Rand's philosophical ideas (though I also have issues with many of them). That said, it can't be denied that Atlas Shrugged really was rambling and poorly-written. She could have made the same points in a third the number of pages. That wouldn't have solved the poorly-written prose part, but would have cut out all the rambling. She's just not a very good writer, even if she had some interesting ideas as a philosopher.

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I do wonder whether Tom read these selections. I guess Rand's work is something you really have to read on your own. I've been eyeing it for some time, and I admit it has an air of tedium about it. Interesting other picks, though. I haven't read them but I have been actively avoiding them, and I wasn't sure why. Probably because Oprah recommends them.

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Kinda makes me wonder if Ayn Rand fans have actually *read* Ayn Rand. Whether or not you like objectivism, holy crap is she long-winded and tedious. She never wrote in either a literarily engaging way (unless you count "really long speeches" as "engaging"), so it just reads like a philosophical/political manifesto with a layer of plot shellacked over it. It could've been an interesting book, regardless of the subject matter, if the prose were taut - or if she'd just ditched the storyline and written a treatise on objectivism. (The fact that "The Simpsons" could pretty decently condense The Fountainhead into a 5-minute skit kinda says something about Rand's excess of verbosity)

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